- FROM that excellent Contrivance which there is in all natural things. Both with respect to that Elegance and Beauty which they have in themselves separately considered, and that regular Order and subserviency wherein they stand towards one another; together with the exact fitness and propriety, for the several purposes for which they are designed. From all which it may be inferred, that these are the productions of some Wise Agent.
The most Sagacious man is not able to find out any blot or error in this great volume of the world, as if any thing in it had been an imperfect essay at the first, such as afterwards stood in need of mending: But all things continue as they were from the Beginning of the Creation.
Tully doth frequently insist upon this, as the most natural result from that beauty1 and regularity to be observed in the Universe. Esse praestantem aliquam, aeternamque naturam, & eam suspiciendam adorandamque hominum generi, pulchritudo mundi ordoque rerum caelestium cogit confiteri. The great elegance and order of things in the world, is abundantly enough to evince the Necessity of such an eternal and excellent Being, to whom we owe adoration. And in another place, Quid potest esse tam apertum, tamque perspicuum, cum coelum suspeximus, coelestiaque2 contemplati sumus, quàm aliquod esse Numen praestantissimae mentis, quo haec regantur. What can be more obvious than to infer a supreme Deity, from that order and government we may behold amongst the heavenly Bodies?
The several vicissitudes of Night and Day, Winter and Summer, the production of Minerals, the growth of Plants, the generation of Animals according to their several Species; with the Law of natural instinct, whereby every thing is inclined and enabled, for its own preservation: The gathering of the Inhabitants of the Earth into Nations, under distinct Policies and Governments; those advantages which each of them have of mutual Commerce, for supplying the wants of each other, are so many distinct arguments to the same purpose.
I cannot here omit the observations which have been made in these later times, since we have had the use and improvement of the Microscope, concerning that great difference which by the help of that doth appear, betwixt natural and artificial things. Whatever is Natural doth by that appear, adorned with all imaginable Elegance and Beauty. There are such inimitable gildings and embroideries in the smallest seeds of Plants, but especially in the parts of Animals, In the head or eye of a small Fly: Such accurate order and symmetry in the frame of the most minute creatures, a Lowse or a Mite, as no man were able to conceive without seeing of them. Whereas the most curious works of Art, the sharpest finest Needle, doth appear as a blunt rough bar of iron, coming from the furnace or the forge. The most accurate engravings or embossments, seem such rude bungling deformed works, as if they had been done with a Mattock or a Trowel. So vast a difference is there betwixt the skill of Nature, and the rudeness and imperfection of Art.
And for such kind of Bodies, as we are able to judg of by our naked eyes, that excellent contrivance which there is in the several parts of them; their being so commodiously adapted to their proper uses, may be another argument to this purpose. As particularly those in humane bodies, upon consideration of which, Galen himself, no great friend to Religion, could not but acknowledg a Deity. In his Book de Formatione Foetus, he takes notice, that there are in a humane body above 600 several Muscles, and there are at least ten several Intentions, or due Qualifications, to be observed in each of these; Proper figure, just magnitude, right disposition of its several ends, upper and lower Position of the whole, the insertion of its proper Nerves, Veins, and Arteries, which are each of them to be duly placed; so that about the Muscles alone, no less than 6000 several ends or aims are to be attended to. The Bones are reckoned to be 284; the distinct scopes or intentions in each of these, are above forty, in all about 100000. And thus is it in some proportion with all the other parts, the Skin, Ligaments, Vessels, Glandules, Humors; But more especially with the several members of the Body, which do in regard of the great variety and multitude of those several intentions required to them, very much exceed the Homogeneous parts. And the failing in any one of these, would cause an irregularity in the Body, and in many of them, such as would be very notorious.
And thus likewise is it in proportion with all other kinds of Beings; Minerals, Vegetables: but especially with such as are Sensitive; Infects, Fishes, Birds, Beasts; And in these yet more especially, for those Organs and Faculties that concern sensation; But most of all, for that kind of frame which relates to our understanding power, whereby we are able to correct the errors of our Senses and Imaginations, to call before us things past and future, and to behold things that are invisible to Sense.
Now to imagine, that all these things, according to their several kinds, could be brought into this regular frame and order, to which such an infinite number of Intentions are required, without the contrivance of some wise Agent, must needs be irrational in the highest degree.
And then, as for the frame of Humane nature it self. If a man doth but consider how he is endowed with such a Natural Principle, whereby he is necessarily inclined to seek his own well-being and happiness: And likewise with one Faculty whereby he is enabled to judg of the nature of things, as to their fitness or unfitness for this end: And another Faculty whereby he is enabled to chuse and prosecute such things as may promote this end, and to reject and avoid such things as may hinder it. And that nothing properly is his duty, but what is really his interest: This may be another argument to convince him, that the Author of his Being must be infinitely Wise and Powerful.
The wisest man is not able to imagine how things should be better than now they are, supposing them to be contrived by the Wisest Agent; And where we meet with all the Indications and Evidences of such a thing as the thing is capable of, supposing it to be true, It must needs be very irrational to make any doubt of it.
Now I appeal unto any considering man, unto what cause all this exactness and regularity can be reasonably ascribed, Whether to Blind Chance, or to Blind Necessity, or to the conduct of some Wise Intelligent Being.
Though we should suppose both Matter and Motion to be Eternal, yet is it not in the least credible, that insensible Matter could be the Author of all those excellent Contrivances which we behold in these natural things. If any one shall surmize, that these Effects may proceed from the Anima Mundi; I would ask such a one, Is this Anima Mundi an Intelligent Being, or is it void of all perception and reason? If it have no kind of sense or knowledg, Then ‘tis altogether needless to assert any such principle, because Matter and Motion may serve for this purpose as well. If it be an Intelligent Wise Eternal Being, This is GOD, under another Name.
As for Fate or Necessity, this must needs be as blind and as unfit to produce wise effects, as Chance it self.
From whence it will follow, That it must be a Wise Being that is the Cause of these Wise Effects.
By what hath been said upon this subject, it may appear, That these visible things of the world are sufficient to leave a man without excuse, As being the Witnesses3 of a Deity, and such as do plainly declare his great Power and Glory.
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